In praise of: beer sticks

Spindly English charcuterie from Cannon & Cannon: and the perfect match for beer

Words: Mark Riddaway

The first time I bit into a beer stick was at a Sussex campsite. Passing through the Market on my way to the station, I’d picked up some beer at Utobeer, and in the true Borough spirit had my mind on a spot of ingredient matching. Walking past Cannon & Cannon, it struck me. Beer and beer sticks. I don’t know why, I just felt they might work well together.

Later that night, sitting knackered in the dark beside a struggling fire, having wrestled with a disobedient tent for about two hours, I took a sip of pale ale and bit down on a spindly length of English charcuterie.

An instant explosion: pork and chilli, hops and malt, salt and pepper, chewiness and effervescence. The drizzle in the air and the feeling in my gut that I might have forgotten my toothbrush were instantly obliterated by the firework display on my tongue and the sense that everything was right with the world.

Having a soak I went home recently for my dad’s birthday. Before dinner, he treated himself to a nice long bath, and as it was a special occasion decided that drinking a beer while having a soak would be the correct thing to do. I’d been to the Market on my way to the station (you sense a pattern), and had picked up some beer sticks almost reflexively.

My dad ended up with a beer and a bag of beer sticks in the bath: far too alliterative for good prose, but apparently one of the most pleasurable experiences known to man. I intend to give it a go.

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